They have tried it all, from innovative street art using potholes to performing puja and praying to them not to kill people. Yet, potholes continue to be the bane of motorists on the city’s streets. But soon, people may be able to make some money off them.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has, for the first time, made a move to hold its officials accountable for potholes. All one needs to do is download an app, to be launched soon, take a photo of the pothole and upload it. If the pothole isn’t fixed within the next 48 hours, the person will they will get ₹100 from the BBMP, which will deduct the amount from the salary of the engineering staff of the area.
The app is being developed on the lines of the successful ‘Public Eye’ campaign of the the Bengaluru Traffic Police, which allows citizens to take photos of traffic violations and upload them to help the police book cases.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said officials are already using a software for monitoring potholes in the city, and it will be opened to the public to crowd-source information. The app is expected to be launched in the West, South and East zones by mid-February in the pilot phase; it would be extended to other areas eventually.
“The citizen can click a photo of the pothole with the app and upload it. The app will register the GPS coordinates of the spot and log it into our database. The photo is immediately sent to the ward engineer concerned, who should close the pothole and upload a new photo within 48 hours,” he said.
If the pothole isn’t cleared within the stipulated time, ₹70 will be deducted from the salary of the assistant engineer of the ward, ₹15 from the assistant executive engineer, ₹10 from the executive engineer, and ₹ 5 from the chief engineer of the zone. According to sources, Mr. Prasad has warned officials of swift disciplinary action if more than 10 cases are reported from a ward.
Pending roadworks exempt
The BBMP is drawing up a list of pending roadworks in the core areas which will be kept out of the app’s purview. If citizens click a photo on one of these roads, they will get a message that roadwork is under way there. BBMP has also drawn up a list of roads still under the three-year defect liability period, complaints on which will be transferred to the contractor.
